The Chemical Brothers “Wide Open” to 3D Printing in New Video

The Chemical Brothers release new music video for “Wide Open”, a heartwarming story about a dancing girl, an empty studio, and 3D printed voronoi patterns.

The new video for a track by The Chemical Brothers has inspired, confused and mesmerized viewers at lightning speed. Entitled “Wide Open”, with guest vocals by Beck, it’s the first single from new album Born in the Echoes.

The video is shot in one take in a plain, industrial background: it’s the story of a dancing girl slowly transforming into… a 3D print? Well, more specifically, a moving voronoi sculpture typically seen in 3D printing.

Click to play the video, and see what we mean.

The Chemical Brothers are doing the 3D Printer Dance

Impressive, huh? We’re used to seeing voronoi patterns all the time in 3D printing, typically in jewelery or home decorations. It’s quite remarkable to see those same mesh patterns rendered in the graceful form of a human figure.

And if the dancer looks familiar, then perhaps you recognize her from the film Ex Machina, where she played Kyoko the mute servant (and disco dancing partner to Nathan the douche bro).

The video was directed by longtime Chemicals collaborators Dom & Nic, who worked with special effects house The Mill on the distinctive visuals. According to their portfolio page, the video was “inspired by procedural cellular structures, with an aim to mix the mechanical and organic, we see the protagonist gradually turn into a fully 3D printed structure as she dances around the studio.”

So how’d they do it? The VFX Team at The Mill created a full CG model of Mizuno, comprising of 107 individual anatomic rigs, as well as bespoke tools to allow the seamless transformation which happens during the dance.

Head of 3D David Fleet commented that “The sheer complexity of this project is what made it unique. The amount of camera and body tracking alone was a huge challenge, as well as consistently seamlessly lighting one shot as long as this.”

Does this mark the beginning of a new trend for 3D printed voronoi animations? If all the results are as striking as this, then we couldn’t possibly object.